Shirt collars



Feb. 18, 1964 YFIGJ.

INVENTOR A I/L A27 United States Patent 3,121,233 srmar COLLARS AlvinRothman, Fresh Meadows, N.Y., assignor to Phillips-Van HeusenCorporation, New York, Nfiifl, a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 15,1961, Ser. No. 159,569 1 Claim. (Ci. 2--116) This invention relates towearing apparel, and more particularly to outer garments such as shirts,and it has for one of its objects the provision of an improvedcollarfastening means.

In shirts intended for both informal wear and formal wear,collar-fastening means of such form is provided that the collar may beworn either sport-shirt fashion or closed for more formal wear, as witha neck-tie. When the collar is worn in open condition, or sport-shirtstyle, at least one of the fastening elements, and usually a loop, isexposed to view and it serves to detract from the desired clean-cutappearance of the neck area of the garment. It is desirable that meansbe provided for concealing the loop when the same is not needed for usein closing the collar and the present invention relates to such means.

It is an object of the invention to provide a loop for closing of thecollar when required and to provide means by which the loop may beretracted into a pocket for its reception when it is not being used.

More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of anelastic loop located at the upper edge of the front of the shirt and soattached to the garment that it can be retracted or pushed betweenlayers of the shirt front and thereby concealed from view, yet whichwill be available for extension when required for use as a fasteningelement for the front of the collar.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, I havedevised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularlypointed out in the claim appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of theinvention is disclosed.

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a shirt collar arrangementconstructed in accordance with the invention and showing the loop in itsextended position;

FIG. 2 is a view of a part of the shirt and collar, with some parts insection to disclose construction;

FIG. 3 shows the shirt collar as it appears when closed, and with one ofthe collar extremities folded back to disclose the fastening means, and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 44 of FIG.2, looking in the direction of the arrows, but showing the loop extendedrather than retracted as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawing, i indicates generally the body of a shirt,which may be of conventional construction, and which is provided with anattached collar 2. The body of the shirt has its ends overlapping at thefront in the known manner and fastened by the usual buttons andbutton-holes.

In the collar band portion of the shirt is located a button 3 which isadapted to receive a loop 4 to maintain the collar in its closed orfastened position when the shirt is being worn in the more formal mannershown in FIG. 3. When the collar is open and the shirt is being worn inan informal or sport-shirt style shown in FIG.

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l, the loop is then detached from the button 3 and is caused todisappear or be concealed from View by being accommodated in a pocketarranged between layers of the shirt body fabric.

The loop 4 is preferably, but not necessarily, composed of elastic cordand is thus stretchable and is readily engaged around the button 3 toclose the collar. It also possesses some slight stiffness so that whenit is not needed for the fastening of the collar, it can be readilypushed down into the body of the shirt to locate it between the layersthereof and thus be completely concealed from view as shown in FIG. 2.

In order to enable the loop to be thus concealed and thus housed in thebody of the shirt between the layers thereof, the seaming or stitching9, which incidentally is a concealed stitching and not visible as shownin FIG. 1, is interrupted for a short distance along the upper edge ofthe lapel portion 8 to provide a mouth 8a through which the loop ispassed to completely dispose it between the fabric layers 5 and 6 andthus conceal it from view as shown in FIG. 2. The loop is thus concealedin a pocket between the fabric layers.

In order to allow the loop to be extended or projected out of the bodyof the shirt at the top thereof to the position shown in FIG. 1, theattaching means for the loop must be one which permits the shifting ofthe loop from its concealed to extended position and vice versa. Amovable or floating fastening for a movable loop of this character maybe obtained in various ways, one of which is shown in FIGS. 2 and 4wherein it will be noted that the base portion of the loop is attachedby stitching or otherwise, as shown at 10, between infolded flapextensions 11 and 12 of the fabric layers 5 and 6. Any other means forpermitting an outward, extending movement of the loop can be availed of.

From the foregoing, the uses and advantages of the describedconstruction will be apparent. When the shirt is worn informally, as asport shirt, as shown in FIG. 1, the loop 4 can be withdrawn or pushedinto its pocket between the layers of the shirt body and it will thus beconcealed from view and both of the lapel parts of the shirt will thenbe free of any exposed fastening elements. In FIG. 1, the loop is shownin its extended position, but actually when the shirt is worn open astherein illustrated the loop can be concealed as above explained. Whenit is desired to conceal the loop, it is merely pushed down into thepocket between the layers of the shirt body to the position shown inFIG. 2 where in place as therein indicated, it will be completely hiddenfrom view.

When the shirt is to be worn for formal wear, or with a necktie, theloop is extended to the position shown in FIG. 1 and the lapel part 8 isbrought over toward the button 3 and the loop then extended around thebutton. The loop, being elastic or stretchable, will permitexpansibility of the collar size and aiford comfort to the wearer whileretaining the collar in a fastened condition.

Having thus described a single embodiment of the invention, it isobvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broadenough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexedclaim.

What I claim is:

A collar fastening for shirts comprising, a shirt body havingoverlapping front parts, one of said parts being composed of a pluralityof overlying fabric layers connested together at one edge by stitching,the stitching being interrupted for a distance along the top edge ofsaid part thereby to permit of the passage of a loop between the layers,the layers having infolded flap extensions, an elastic cord loop, meansattaching the cord loop between said infolded flap extensions to permitof longitudinal shifting of the loop and infolded flap extensions towhich it is attached, the elastic cord loop being of substantially thesame length as the infolded flap extensions so that when. the cord loopis fully retracted in unstressed condition it is completely hiddenbetween said infolded flap extensions and said cord loop i beingextendable to project the loop beyond the top of the shirt body to whichit is attached.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,814,760 Miller July 14, 1931 1,982,527 Manekin Nov. 27, 1934 2,345,764May Apr. 4, 1944 2,425,091 Fisch Aug. 5, 1947 2,502,921 Bryant Apr. 4,1950 2,646,570 Rinehart July 28, 1953 2,756,432 Beregow et al July 31,1956

